


Magically Binding

by BemusedFox



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ancient Artifacts are Powerful, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Magical Artifacts, Magically binding contracts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:55:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23522659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BemusedFox/pseuds/BemusedFox
Summary: Harry had had it. This bloody tournament was a step too far.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 48





	Magically Binding

Harry had had it. This bloody tournament was a step too far. At this point, he could care less if he ended up a squib, he was leaving. Magically binding contract be damned.

Instead of going to bed after his fight with Ron, he emptied his school rucksack on his bed and filled it with his money pouch and prized possessions: his wand, map, and photo album (his broom he carried in his hand with his Dad's cloak covering both it and him), and made his way out the portrait hole under the cover of Gryffindor's celebration. Damn them and their joy at his misery.

Perhaps he wasn't being fair, but he honestly thought he had a right to be after the last three years. Shaking his head, he turned towards the staircases. One stop at the Owlery to ask Hedwig to leave and find him in a week, and Harry was headed to the Forbidden Forest. He had considered using one of the passageways out, but the two he knew best, he wouldn't be able to exit out of. Who knew what sort of alarms wizarding stores set when they closed for the night. And as far as he could tell the Shrieking Shack had been built without an exit. The nailed over door just added on the outside as part of the illusion. Though how that illusion worked when the shack would have randomly appeared in the 70s was beyond Harry. Surely the residents of Hogsmeade noticed it's arrival when Lupin started Hogwarts? Perhaps they were in on it.

Either way, Harry had no way to leave Honeyduke's or the Shack, and he was certain he would be caught before long if he used either of their passages, and Harry was NOT getting caught. Which is why he also avoided the ones Fred and George said Filch knew about. Knowing his luck, he would pick the one that Filch or Mrs. Norris happened to be patrolling.

Instead, once he felt he was far enough in the forest, he was going to get on his broom and fly with his invisibility cloak as cover. Just like he had planned when running away from the Dursleys a little over a year ago. But this time, he didn't have to worry about his trunk, and this time, he did not plan to go to Diagon Alley. Or really anywhere in the wizarding world. And he definitely was not going back to the Dursleys. Even the certain death from the Tournament would be better than that.

No, he would go somewhere in the Muggle world. Somewhere they can't find him. Somewhere no one would expect him to go. Therefore, he was going to take a leaf from Uncle Vernon's book and pick random directions. Settle somewhere that felt right. 

To be on the safe side, he would stay under his invisibility cloak as much as possible. Because wizards had ways of finding people. Ways he wasn't sure he could counter. But his cloak had never let him down, and that was the best he could do as an underage wizard.

\-------

A month later, Harry was rather surprised he hadn't been caught, but he was grateful. Hedwig had managed to find him one of the rare times he wasn't wearing his cloak. He had been worried that someone would follow her, but after an hour he relaxed. Wizards really weren't that patient so surely he would've been confronted right away had they found him.

He was making do, rummaging through rubbish bins and using the forest just outside of the small city he had settled in for cover. Mr. Weasley had exchanged with Harry the remainder Muggle money for wizarding money after the World Cup (except for a note and coin in each denomination which he kept for his collection), so Harry had had about fifty quid in his coin pouch. It was enough to buy a cheap winter coat from the secondhand store he had found his third day out of Hogwarts. Saving a fiver, he used the rest to buy several tins of soup, tinned vegetables, and a reusable water bottle he found in the grocers. The tins he opened sparingly, only when he had no luck at the bins behind restaurants. Hedwig was able to hunt for herself, but she would have less success the closer they came to winter. He didn't know how long he could avoid going to the wizarding world where his bank account had piles of money he could use, but he reckoned the longer the better. 

It was a brisk, November morning and Harry had his shirt off in the public loo he had found. He was using paper towels to give himself a bit of a clean when he felt a hook behind his navel, though this one was much stronger and somehow angrier than the one that he had felt using a portkey. He had a moment to be thankful that he just happened to be holding his rucksack in his left hand as, if he hadn't been, it might've gotten left behind with his shirt and coat.

His knees buckled when his feet hit the ground, and his head felt like it was about to spin right off his neck. Retching, he froze when he heard an unpleasantly loud, and unpleasantly furious sounding roar.

He closed his eyes for a moment as he realized what had happened, before resignedly looking up to see a hulking dragon with way more pointy ends than he really thought was fair.

Dazedly as he reached into his rucksack for his wand, the only thought that filtered across his strangely empty mind was, "Oh...This is what they meant by magically binding."


End file.
